Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 31, 1993 TAG: 9401030277
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In Baltimore, the 13-to-24 age group accounted for more than half the murder arrests and nearly 40 percent of the victims.
In Cleveland, half of the 173 homicides this year were committed by those younger than 25. Five years ago, that age group accounted for less than one-third of the killings.
"We're getting kids 12, 13 years old involved in murders, and that was very rare until a few years ago," said Cleveland homicide Detective Richard Martin.
In San Jose, Calif., the number of juveniles arrested for serious crimes rose by 39 percent over the past five years. It went up just 5 percent for adults.
The numbers are in sharp contrast to optimistic figures released this fall. The FBI's Uniformed Crime Statistics had indicated that violent crime dropped 5 percent in the first half of 1993 over the same period in 1992.
Cities from Baltimore to Oakland, Calif., will close the year with record numbers of homicides. And even in communities where the murder count has dropped, killings involving young people are rising.
From 1986 to 1991, the homicide rate among 14- to 24-year-olds rose by 62 percent. It jumped 124 percent among those 14 to 17.
So while the 465 homicides recorded in Washington, D.C., this year is up only 3 percent over last year and down from the record 489 of 1991, murders committed by those 17 and younger increased 17 percent.
Homicides in Richmond dropped from a record 120 last year to 110 this year. But the average age of suspects went from 24 to 20.
In St. Louis, where officials this week announced a record 267th murder, the average number of homicides has doubled in six years.
Scott Decker, chairman of the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, said, "The pattern of homicide has changed. The decreasing age of both offenders and victims is the most profound change in homicide rates since World War II."
Decker talks of a "contagion" of violence among teen-agers that begins with a fight and ends with murder.
"It spreads like a disease would," he said. "It escalates from settling a score to making a pre-emptive strike. Someone gets shot, and it takes off from there."
\ VIOLENCE AMONG THE YOUNG\ SAMPLING AS OF DEC. 28\ \ Baltimore: 350 murders surpasses last year's record of 335 and is 50 percent higher than the 234 murders in 1988. Steady rise in number of homicides since 1988. This year, those age 13 to 24 accounted for more than half the murder arrests and nearly 40 percent of victims.\ \ Jacksonville, Fla.: 121 homicides, up from 115 last year. Thirty-two minors between 13 and 17 were arrested for homicide in 1993, up from 29 last year. A sharper increase in aggravated assault arrests. This year, 545 minors age 6 to 17 arrested for assault, up from 454 last year. One teen arrested for homicide was a 13-year-old boy indicted for slaying a man outside a bar in October. The boy was one of five, the oldest being 16, involved.\ \ Memphis, Tenn.: 212 homicides; previous record was 207 in 1990. Ninety-nine victims, or 46 percent, were 13 to 29 years old. Of the suspected killers, 125, or 59 percent, were in that age group. In 1988, Memphis had 181 homicides. Seventy-five victims, or 41 percent, were age 13 to 29. Ninety-six suspects, or 53 percent, were in that age group. Authorities blame an increase in organized youth gangs coming from Chicago and St. Louis. These newer gangs, they say, are more ruthless in protecting their turfs from competitors.\ \ Philadelphia: 461 homicides, up from 454 last year. Record 525 set in 1990. Numbers of victims age 13 to 24 has crept up during those years. There were 200, or 43 percent of the victims, in that age group this year. Last year, 164 young people in that category, or 36 percent, were homicide victims. The number was 133 victims, or 33 percent, in 1988. At the same time, the city's 6,100-officer force has been scaled back from 6,900 in the past decade because of budget constraints.
by CNB